On June 6, 1889, at 2:45 p.m., a man named John E. Back inadvertently started a fire in the basement of a downtown building at the southwest corner of Madison Street and Front Street (later renamed 1st Avenue). By prompting new development and construction, this fire, remembered as the Great Fire, ironically transformed Seattle from a town to a city.

The fire destroyed buildings in the following areas: From King Street N to Yesler Way and James Street west of 4th Avenue S to Yesler Way (later renamed 3rd Avenue S) and 3rd Avenue; From Yesler Way and James Street north to Spring Street west of 2nd Avenue; University Street north to Spring Street west of Front Street (later renamed 1st Avenue). British poet Rudyard Kipling happened to be touring Puget Sound at the time, and arrived in Seattle by steamer shortly after the fire. He described the remains as “a horrible black smudge, as though a Hand had come down and rubbed the place smooth. I know now what being wiped out means.”(Source: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=715)